Tandem DIPA (Double India Pale Ale) Are you riding Tandem? Look down. Are your feet on the pedals? Yes? Is there someone else in front of you? No? Is there someone behind you? Yes? CONGRATULATIONS! You are riding tandem. Now put this ale to your lips and savor the citrus and grapefruit draw that the hops give it. Then love it.

Reviews by wordemupg:

A clear dark golden yellow liquid with a tornado of bubbles for the first minute that feed a well sustained three finger foam that leaves thick rings deep down the glass and I still have a layer of foam at the bottom. lots of tiny suspended particles upon close inspection, sexy looking brew

S not a whole lot going on, floral pine and pineapple, a little bubblegum seem out of place, some citrus and cereal with a hint of booze, not bad but basic

T more of the same with some lemon and lime rind added to the mix, lots of citrus peel, almost too much, booze is well concealed

M leaning towards full, slick on the palate, creamy from the bubbles, bitter with just a hint of booze and plenty of rind on the finish

O looks sexy, feels good but there's room for improvement in the most important areas, nothings wrong with it but nothing about it excites me either

I'm not in love with this brew and I don't see myself buying it again but the average score seems pretty low, perhaps some off bottles floating around?

More User Reviews:

22oz bottle. Why does a label with a hot chick riding on the back of a tandem bicycle, drinking a beer called, well, 'Tandem', while the dude pedals away (sans beer, of course) kind of piss me off?

This beer pours a hazy medium golden amber colour, with four fat fingers of puffy, frothy, and silkily foamy ecru head, which leaves some chunky touching-down tornado lace around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

It smells of bittersweet grapefruit, orange, and some further muddled tropical fruitiness, a subdued grainy caramel malt, some pithy children's rock candy, and soft hints of warming alcohol. The taste is more sweet caramel/toffee malt, candied citrus and soft pine needle car freshener 'bitterness', field honey, and some mildly musty herbal, leafy hops. The big booze is deftly obscured, it would seem.

The carbonation is on the low side, just a wee prickliness here and there, the body a pleasant enough medium weight, kind of sugary in its smoothness, and even a smidge creamy. It finishes on the sweet side, a tad weird for a DIPA, as the hops continue to represent in a fruity manner, if not a bitter one, the alcohol getting more aggressive at it warms.

Not a bad tasting, if perhaps more than a bit unbalanced version of the style. A DIPA for those beholden to their sweet tooth, I suppose, as I duly reserve my private biases towards the stereotypical predilections of the audience catered to here. And, um, good price, too.

(A) Some haze and a reddish orange color. Has a small white head but quickly diminishes.

(S) Grapefruit, light malts, sugars and a good amount of sweetness, and some hops.

(T) Sweet. Tastes like white Belgian sugars and residual sweetness. Grapefruit, honey, and hops. There's not a whole lot else going on in this one.

(M) It's very smooth and crisp. Has a refreshing quality to it. Oily and filling.

(O) Too sweet and not very balanced. Not like normal DIPAs that I've had. Of the stuff I've had from Tenaya, this was not quite the top tier. I might have sat on the bottle too long or something. I would like to give it another shot at some point, maybe fresh.

22 ounce bottle. Served in a tulip glass, the beer pours a hazy orange/amber color with an inch off-white head. The head retention is good, and there's also a lot of lacing left on the glass. Aroma is citrusy hops (grapefruit, tropical fruit) and caramel malt. The brew tastes like citrusy hops, caramel malt, and some earthy/herbal flavors are noticable too. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's a bit creamy and slick, and it's well carbonated. I think this is a solid overall brew, but with all the great Double/Imperial IPA's out there this one doesn't stand out. For $5.99, I thought it was worth trying. Tenaya Creek just recently started distributing to Ohio, so I'll have to look out for some of their other brews in the future.

App- A light light caramel brown with a hazy orange and some streaking yellow. A big two finger slow receding head falls to a thin pond water like head. A lot of lace and cling in this glass.

Smell- This is a very malty aromatic beer. A little one sided without a bittering hop profile. Seems a bit contrary to what is on label. No citrus notes open but it's a bit damp but doesn't retain a earthy quality. For the ABV% no booze on the the nose either.

Taste- The 9% is well hidden in this one. Damp malts come first in the glass and the nose semi continues but a little more hops come in. A bit spicy, citrus with just a touch of bitter. You know this profile from most DIPAs, A bit thick, malty a touch of bitter, a touch of citrus.

Mouth- A medium thick body with a medium low carbonation. A bit slick and thick malty aftertaste with maybe a few flavor burst of citrus remain.

Drink- This was a pretty run of the mill double IPA. With much more focus being on a malt backbone, I felt the hops were drowned out a bit too much. Some would like this for being 9% and having a big double IPA. Ill try to give Tenaya a go when I see there beers while on my travels but this was just an eh for me.

Beer poured into a 16oz pint glass, very small head of a cream color. Little to no lacing, beer is an amber/red color. On my first taste, it was like over ripe citrus, with a big conflict with all of the malt. The mouth feel was like oily. Any hop flavors were masked by the other overpowering tastes.

Taste follows the aroma: very malty. Some hop bitterness balances it, but not a lot of distinctive hop flavor. A little grapefruit and black pepper lurking in the aftertaste.

Mouth feel is a little slick and heavy

Overall: had high hopes for this one, I've liked everything else I've tried from Tenaya Creek much better. Haze seems a bit excessive, even for a bottle conditioned brew (I'm guessing this is the case from the sediment. Head seems too light to me, other reviewers report the opposite: perhaps a consistency issue or this one needed more aging. Aroma/flavor/mouth feel combine to lead me to a barley wine style vibe, but muddled and indistinct. Seems shy on hops for a DIPA, particularly in the aroma. I don't dislike this brew, but I can't say I like it enough I see myself buying it again, I expect more from the hops in a DIPA, particularly when the label is highlighting that aspect. Not flawed, I'm sure there is a person for this beer... just not a great beer for this person.